1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a horizontally mounted water tank used to store a supply of dispensable water from a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is known to provide dispenser units in the front doors of refrigerators in order to enhance the accessibility to ice and/or water. Typically, such a dispenser unit will be formed in the freezer door of a side-by-side style refrigerator or in the fresh food or freezer door of a top mount style refrigerator. In either case, a water line will be connected to the refrigerator in order to supply the needed water for the operation of the dispenser. For use in dispensing the water, it is common to provide a water tank within the fresh food compartment to act as a reservoir such that a certain quantity of the water can be chilled prior to being dispensed.
Most dispenser equipped refrigerators available on the market today incorporate blow molded water tanks which are arranged vertically in lower sections of the fresh food compartments. More specifically, such a water tank is typically positioned behind a crisper bin or a meat keeper pan within a bottom section of the fresh food compartment so as to be subjected to the cooling air circulating within the compartment. Of course, locating the water tank in the bottom section of the fresh food compartment reduces the permissible size of the crisper bin and/or meat keeper. In addition, since the tank is not an aesthetically appealing feature of the refrigerator, it is generally hidden from view by a sight enhancing cover. Unfortunately, the cover reduces the direct exposure of the tank to the flow of cooling air, thereby minimizing the chilling effect for the water.
One concern with regard to the arrangement of a refrigerator water tank is to minimize the potential for air to become trapped within the tank. If air is trapped, the supply water in the tank will tend to compress the air during the dispensing operation. When the dispensing system is deactivated, the remaining air will expand and undesirably force an additional amount of water out of the dispenser. This is generally referred to as "run on" or "afterflow." Although the occurrence of afterflow is recognized in the art and therefore known water tanks are designed with this potential problem in mind, improvements in known water tank designs are still needed.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for an improved water tank arrangement for a refrigerator which will permit the tank to be more directly exposed to a flow of fresh food cooling air while maintaining the aesthetics of the compartment, increase the available storage space for a crisper bin and/or meat keeper pan of the refrigerator, and substantially eliminate the occurrence of afterflow.